TOPIC: KINDS OF
ADVOCACY
(80 minutes)

Note: The purpose of this section
is to understand some of the differences between the types of advocates
and advocacy groups that may be providing services in participants’ communities,
the significance these differences hold for victims, and to understand
the opportunities for collaboration. The exercise is not intended as
an opportunity to categorize for participants specific advocates or advocacy
groups in their communities. Some jurisdictions have different or multiple
types of advocacy groups (e.g., child advocacy centers), and the responsibilities
of these groups can vary significantly, but they are all considered advocates.
Participants who express confusion about the role of specific advocates
in their communities should be encouraged to discuss with the advocates
in their community the advocate’s roles and responsibilities to
victims and the system. Emphasize that sharing information about roles
and responsibilities is an important step in creating effective collaboration
among agencies or individuals with different and sometimes conflicting
roles.

What
are some of the victim advocacy or victim service agencies or organizations
that you either work with or are aware of in your jurisdiction? (20 minutes)

Categories of Advocates
(10 minutes)

Most of these agencies can be put in one of two groups: “system–based” advocates
and “community–based” advocates. When we talk here about “system–based” advocates,
we’re talking about something different from “systemic advocacy.” System–based
advocates and community-based advocates can be differentiated by where
the advocate is employed, who they are responsible to, and sometimes the
nature of their duties.

System–based advocates are employed by a criminal or juvenile justice
agency, typically a prosecutor’s office, but sometimes by a law enforcement,
probation, or corrections department, or by a paroling authority or state
Attorney General’s office. System–based advocates generally
serve as the primary contact for victims with that particular criminal
justice agency, and their responsibilities may include facilitating the
victim’s participation in justice processes, interviewing victims,
referring victims to appropriate support services, and helping victims
connect with criminal justice system–based victim services.

The term “community–based” victim advocate refers to
people who work in an independent, usually nonprofit, organization dedicated
to assisting victims of sexual assault (and sometimes also victims of domestic
violence and/or stalking). Some advocacy groups are private but have a
mission that links them to a criminal justice agency. For example, some
private, nonprofit child advocacy centers are designed to make it easier
for child victims to provide testimony about their victimization, but this
function serves primarily to assist with prosecutions, dependency decisions,
and other official functions.

The term “community–based” victim advocate refers to
people who work in an independent, usually nonprofit, organization dedicated
to assisting victims of sexual assault (and sometimes also victims of domestic
violence and/or stalking). Some advocacy groups are private but have a
mission that links them to the criminal justice system. For example, some
private, nonprofit child advocacy centers are designed to make it easier
for child victims to provide testimony about their victimization, but this
function serves primarily to assist with prosecutions, dependency decisions,
and other official functions. Community–based victim assistance programs
provide comprehensive services to victims, regardless of whether they choose
to report the crime and participate in justice system processes.

There are also victim service providers who may not fall into either of
these categories, but who sometimes serve as the voice for victim issues
in the community. These may include counseling agencies or private therapists
who provide services to victims and have a deep understanding of victim
issues, but who are not officially involved in the criminal justice system
aspects of sexual assault issues. This type of provider may also include
sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) or child advocacy center staff who
have a role in the criminal justice system but who are independent of it;
or leaders of victim support groups.

Inevitably, some communities have greater victim advocacy resources than
others. Communities that have both system-based and community-based victim
advocates are particularly fortunate, since each has different services
they can offer to victims and the community. It is important to understand
some of the differences in the services these advocates are able to offer.
You may be in contact with either or both types of advocates, depending
on what is available in your community, whom the victim has chosen to contact,
or what is happening with the offender. When these various victim advocacy
groups work together, their services can complement and enrich each other.

Note: When reviewing the roles
of each type of advocate, emphasize the fact that the roles may differ
from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For instance, a rape crisis center
may do a lot of court accompaniment, while probation–based victim
advocates may perform specialized training and help with accessing compensation
information.

Although both community– and system–based advocates can and
do provide valuable services to victims, it is important to know the differences
between these types of advocates. These include:

Working with reporting and non-reporting victims: Community-based
advocates serve both victims who report their victimization to the criminal
justice system as well as those who do not. System–based advocates
generally offer services to those victims whose cases are being processed
in the criminal justice system (although some offer services to all victims).

Access to criminal justice system professionals: Both kinds
of advocates generally will be knowledgeable about the criminal justice
system. System–based advocates will likely have particular knowledge
about the component or agency they are working for, and are likely to
have better access to those system component professionals. Community–based
advocates may have more flexibility, both in terms of which parts of
the system they are able to approach and work with, and their ability
to limit their involvement if the victim is not comfortable with participating
in the process; however, access to system professionals may be more limited.

Availability to victim: System–based advocates are sometimes
limited to working with victims only while their case is within the agency
the advocate serves. In other words, a police–based victim advocate
may not be available to assist a victim once their case has been passed
on to the prosecutor’s office; a corrections–based victim
advocate may not have contact with a victim until the case has been adjudicated
and the offender sentenced. In contrast, a community–based victim
advocate may be available to a victim at any point from the time she/he
has been assaulted (even if the victim doesn't seek assistance until
years following the incident(s)), and the advocate may continue serving
the victim whether or not the victim decides to report the crime or be
involved in criminal prosecution.

Limits on confidentiality: Because they are employed by criminal
justice agencies to serve a particular function, system–based advocates
are usually not able to offer victims confidential services. Information
derived from an interview by a victim advocate in a prosecutor’s
office, for example, will in most cases be passed on to the prosecutor
to assist with the case. Victim communication with community–based
advocates is typically protected by law and/or agency policy (in many
states they have privilege similar to attorney/client or doctor/patient
privilege). This distinction will likely be very important to victims.

General and specialized advocates: Some system–based
advocates work with all crime victims, regardless of the offense. They
may or may not have received specialized training in sexual assault victim
advocacy. Community–based advocates usually specialize in sexual
assault victim advocacy (and possibly domestic violence and stalking)
and receive specialized training on sexual assault issues. Training and
specialized experience enables advocates (whether community– or
system–based) to better address the needs of sexual assault victims
and to better prepare them for the experience of working with the criminal
justice system. Community–based sexual assault advocates see their
role as not only helping victims navigate the system, but also to provide
crisis intervention, information, and resources and to protect victims
from possible system inequities.

Services to secondary victims: Community–based advocates
are available to work with both primary and secondary victims of sexual
assault. Some rape crisis centers, for example, run support groups for
partners of rape victims.

Availability of advocates: Many community–based victim
advocates are available to provide services 24–hours–a–day,
7–days–a–week. They use hotlines and volunteer networks
to ensure this availability. System–based advocates may only be
available only during standard office hours, although in many jurisdictions
system–based advocates may be on–call.

Other victim service providers: In some communities, victim
service providers—child advocacy center staff, for example—may
provide some of these advocacy services to their clients and may be the
ones to represent victim issues on local task forces and policy initiatives.
Child advocacy centers and SANEs participate in the criminal justice
system in very prescribed ways, usually in the prosecutorial stage. Child
advocacy centers also work closely with child protective services to
establish whether a child is in need of services. There are also national
groups that provide victim services to individuals at the local level,
while conducting systemwide advocacy at the state or national level.
These service providers are difficult to generalize about, but may be
important resources for victims in your community.

As you can see from this comparison, each advocacy position has its strengths
and its limitations, which is why communities benefit most from having
advocates and other service providers available in a variety of locations
both within the system and outside of it. But many communities without
this abundance of resources have adapted to the needs of sexual assault
victims by expanding the capacity of the advocates who are available to
serve in whatever ways they can. You will find tremendous variation from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction, both in terms of what services are available
and who provides them.

Note: Participants should keep
this handout for future reference. It includes comprehensive information
about victim assistance programs, victims’ rights, crime victim
compensation, and information and referral information for a number of
state and local victim organizations.

The important things to take away from this comparison are:

If you are not already familiar with all of the victim advocacy resources
in your community, it’s important to take the time to investigate
what advocacy groups exist and what kinds of services they offer. Victim
advocates can contribute to the effective management of sex offenders,
but only if supervision officers understand what services and options
are available. You may find that your community’s resources closely
follow the pattern described here, or they may not.

Different victim advocates bring different strengths to this issue.
All of the perspectives are useful and each potential resource should
be tapped to the extent possible.

Learning
Activity: Victim Service Inventory
(20 minutes)

Let’s take a few moments to do a quick inventory of the victim services
you each have in your communities. Each of you has been given a handout
to complete for your community. Take a look at the handout. It consists
of a blank chart for you to fill in, with one example already provided.
It asks you:

To identify the name of the office or agency where victim services
are provided (see example, DA’s Office Victim/Witness Unit);

Specify what type of victims are served there;

At what point in the criminal justice process (see example, victims
of all crimes after the case has been charged);

If any categories of victims are excluded (see example, those who
do not want to cooperate with the prosecution or anyone not directly
involved as a victim or witness);

How victims access these services (see example, the victim/witness
unit contacts victims based on police reports and invites them to use
their services); and

What services are provided (see example, court accompaniment; liaison
with prosecuting attorney; assistance with victim compensation application;
referrals for counseling or other services).

List all of the victim services you can name in your community, and indicate
how much you know about them. Take a few minutes to jot down a few notes
on your chart.

Note: Links to state coalitions
can be found at the National Sexual Assault Coalition Resource Sharing
Project, at www.resourcesharingproject.org/
index.html. We will return to this handout later in the training.
Telephone and address information for each state coalition, as well as
information about national sexual assault programs, can be found in the Trainer’s
Resources section of this curriculum.

Processing of Exercise: Victim Service Inventory
(5 minutes)

Some of you may find that your chart is still relatively empty. This constitutes
your homework—over the next couple of weeks, seek out the information
to fill in your chart. One way to do this is to meet with the various victim
advocacy agencies on your list to gather information about how they function.
Some of these advocacy agencies will also be able to direct you to advocates
not on your list so that you can make contact with them. Contact the sexual
assault coalition in your state—they can also help you gather information
about victim services in your area.

Confidential Communications
(20 minutes)

Note: This aspect of community–based
victim advocacy is discussed separately for two reasons:

Confidentiality is important for victims. Community–based programs
are often the only places victims can turn where they know what they
say will not be disclosed.

It is often this restriction on information–sharing that causes
tension between community–based victim advocates and criminal
justice professionals. Prosecutors and probation officers, for example,
sometimes believe the advocate is ‘holding back’ information
that would be useful to their work with the case and resent the advocate
on that basis. It is important to address this issue with participants
so they will understand the reasons why confidentiality is important;
that advocates don’t “withhold” information that
would be useful; rather, they protect legitimate and essential confidentiality
limits.

Encourage the participants to find out what kind of communication is
protected in their state. See the attached state matrix of confidential
communications laws.

Let’s talk a little bit further about the issue of confidential
communications. This is often an area that can be frustrating to criminal
justice personnel, especially in the context of a comprehensive response
to sex offenders where information sharing is particularly valued. Most
states provide some kind of protection to communications between victims
and their advocates/counselors, similar to the privilege afforded to doctors
and lawyers and their patients or clients. Unless a victim signs a waiver
consenting to the release of information shared with a counselor or advocate,
it is against the law for the advocate to share information a victim has
divulged to them. In states without such laws, agency policy will sometimes
dictate that information provided by victims cannot be shared unless the
victim signs a waiver, and the waiver is usually specific about to whom
the information can be released. In this situation, the information would
be vulnerable to subpoena but would not be available for general discussion.

To those within the criminal justice system charged with the management
of sex offenders, it may appear in these situations that victim advocates
are withholding information unnecessarily. This can be frustrating in the
context of both individual cases and in trying to set policy that will
facilitate collaboration among criminal justice system agencies. Sometimes
victims will have shared information about the offender that would be useful
to the person supervising or treating the offender, or information that
could affect the victim’s or others’ safety. At times like
this, the victim advocate’s insistence on maintaining confidentiality
may seem not only uncooperative but potentially harmful, and it is important
to consider why these laws and policies are in place. Far from being unnecessary,
they are essential to protecting and empowering victims by encouraging
them to share information freely with their advocates without fear that
the information will be shared without their consent.

Can
you think of some examples of information that advocates may possess
to which you would like to have access?

Examples could include: that the offender contacted
the victim, which is a violation of his/her conditions of probation;
that the offender is engaging in other activity that violates conditions.

Do
any of you have any ideas about why laws are in place protecting
communications between victims and their advocates/counselors?

Hopefully, some participants will point out that
the principle behind confidential communications is essential to
protect victims. If not, continue with the next paragraph, explaining
the principle.

It is important to remember that the laws and policies restricting the
information that advocates can share are in place for a purpose, to protect
victims in the places to which they turn for assistance. Anyone who works
in the field of sexual assault knows that sexual assault is a painful experience
that can be difficult to talk about. However, sharing information about
the assault and the victim’s experience in the aftermath of the assault
may go beyond that kind of emotional difficulty. Just as a victim may be
in the best position to know how an offender operates and how dangerous
the offender may be, the victim may also be in the best position to know
what information can be shared without harming the victim or putting the
victim at risk of harm.

For example, information about the victim’s mental state, shared
with an advocate as part of an effort to secure therapy or other mental
health services to deal with issues raised by the assault, may be used
to discredit her in a civil or family law case that follows the sexual
assault. Criminal and civil legal systems can cause victims real harm when
information about their experience gets into the wrong hands, and creates
danger for them or is used to discredit them.

In order for some victims of sexual assault and abuse to heal and recover,
they need to know that they can talk to an advocate without fearing that
what they say may be shared, even if the intentions for sharing it are
well–meaning (such as a belief that the victim will be protected
if the information is revealed). This is a protection that generally only
community–based advocates can offer victims, and it is this assurance
that what they say is confidential that enables many victims to seek support.

Another important implication for victim privacy is related to HIPAA,
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which was passed
by Congress in 1996. The Federal government developed an implementing policy
that included “the Privacy Rule,” a federal regulation defining
administrative steps, policies, and procedures to safeguard individuals'
personal, private health information (protected health information or PHI).
The Privacy Rule is designed to empower patients by guaranteeing them access
to their medical records, giving them more control over how their PHI is
used and disclosed, and providing a clear avenue of recourse if their medical
privacy is compromised. The rule is designed to protect medical records
and other personal health information maintained by certain health care
providers, hospitals, health plans, health insurers, and health care clearinghouses.
The new law may have implications for enhanced privacy of victim information.

One other important privacy issue to take note of is the fact that many
criminal justice agencies have “duty to warn” policies. For
example, if a probation or corrections officer hears an offender making
a credible threat to a victim, he or she is required to report the threat.
In such cases, the victim is usually informed that a credible threat has
been made, in order to take needed safety precautions.

Note: Be prepared for the possible
observation from participants that, in their communities, different types
of advocates do not work well together. This is a valid point, but does
not provide an excuse to avoid working with victim advocates. Since victims
utilize all of the victim advocacy services in the community, so too
should those who work with offenders establish a relationship with all
victim service organizations.

As was mentioned earlier, the point of identifying differences between
advocates is not to place more value on one type of advocate than another,
but to help participants understand the difference in services each type
of advocate provides. Each advocate’s role has some benefits and
limitations in terms of what they can offer victims at different stages
of the criminal justice process. For some victims, the access to the system
and the reassurance that the relevant system personnel are hearing their
concerns may be a strong motivation to disclose information to a system–based
advocate, despite the lack of confidentiality. For others, knowing that
the information they are disclosing is confidential may be essential to
their willingness to seek help or to go through the process of reporting
the crime.

Even those victims who especially value the confidentiality offered by
community–based victim advocates will often provide consent for information
to be shared if they believe it is in their best interest to do so. The
important thing for us to remember as professional colleagues of victim
advocates is that the decision to share information remains with the
victim—not the victim advocate. Whatever the circumstances and
regardless of the content, advocates bound by state law or organizational
policy are not allowed to release information without a signed waiver,
unless it falls under mandatory child abuse reporting laws. Collaborating
with advocates requires respecting these boundaries around information
shared by victims.

In your own efforts to collaborate with victim advocates within your jurisdiction,
it will be important for your organization to seek out information about
the current state law regarding confidentiality between advocates and victims,
and the specific policies of your collaborative partners, and to discuss
the application of these laws and policies as part of the collaborative
process.

Working with Advocates
(5 minutes)

Note: Reluctance by some victim
advocates to partner with criminal justice agencies may be an issue raised
in the previous exercise about past experiences. If so, you can refer
back to the examples given by participants and remind participants of
the lessons learned and benefits realized by pursuing such partnerships.

Remember that advocates in your jurisdiction may be as unfamiliar with
victim–centered approaches to managing sex offenders as you or others
may be, and might be hesitant or skeptical about collaborating with agencies
or individuals who work with offenders. Some advocates may be reluctant
to collaborate with the criminal justice system because of the difficult
history victims of sexual assault have experienced in seeking justice within
that system. They also often have historical concerns about not being included
in any partnerships that address offender management and public safety,
or being invited to participate once such processes have already been established.
It is important to engage victim advocates early and often in all sex offender
management efforts, and recognize the value they bring to the team.

The advocacy movement began because sexual assault victims felt that the
criminal justice system was not meeting their needs, and in many ways favored
perpetrators of sexual assault over victims. In addition, certain kinds
of sexual assault have historically been virtually ignored. Unlike victims
of other crimes, sexual assault victims have been accused of making up
the stories of their victimization unless they had serious bodily injuries—and
even then, it has sometimes been argued that they “liked rough sex.” Victims
have had their personal histories put on trial, and if they were sexually
active with anyone, that sexual history has been used in some cases to
excuse or explain the sexual assault. The victim advocacy community has
worked hard to dispel these myths, to change laws and practices to enable
victims of sexual assault to seek justice, and to provide accountability
for perpetrators. Unfortunately, these types of practices still exist in
some jurisdictions, and even those jurisdictions that have made strides
in remedying these problems are likely still faced with a legacy of skepticism
and mistrust of the system.

While many advocates may understand that they have an important role to
play in sex offender management and are eager to collaborate, others may
not understand that supervisory and other criminal justice agencies share
the same fundamental goal of preventing future victimization. They also
may believe that their resources cannot or should not be applied to anything
that supports work with offenders, because it would result in fewer resources
for victims. In the world of sexual assault victim advocacy—as in
community corrections—limited resources have always been a significant
issue. Be prepared, as you would be in any new collaborative relationship,
to spend some time building trust gently, challenging each other’s
assumptions, and discussing shared expectations. Remember that advocates
have typically not been included in any correctional or offender management
initiatives. It will be important to share with them that their contributions
to these efforts will be valued, important, and worthwhile.